Friday, October 08, 2010

A THREAT TO THE CHURCH THAT MAY GO UNCHECKED

I like life.  I like the church.  I like hope.

Recently I had a conversation with a man from a war-torn country.  He now lives in Tulsa by way of first a refugee camp in the Philippines to Canada to America.  He said America is a hard place to live.

He owns his own business, so I inquired further.  His response was that when in Nam or the refugee camp he had nothing but the focus of getting enough food for his family day by day.  He walked two miles one way for water for cooking and laundry.  Here, he said, one has to really work hard to keep up with so many things; possessions.

And then he made a drastic statement.  He declared that his days of just trying to get enough food were much happier ones than living in America.  Why?  Because it takes so much stress to keep all the things running or painted or paid.

I immediately wondered about Jesus' teaching about prayer; Give us this day our daily bread.

I'm not off on a tirade about possessions.  I can't.  I own too many.  But I do reflect on this little man's surprising statement.  I wonder how difficult it is for us to truly abide in the life of Christ while we carry our "many things" into each day's discussion and mission.  I wonder how much of our kingdom impact is diminished because we seem to have little need to depend on God day by day for our next meal.

I'm ahead of no one in this discussion, understand.  However, I do think there is a correlation between seeking His daily provision and our fundamental joy.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come home with me stranger.

So many things interfere with God's will.

Vasca said...

After reaching this, I felt a flood of sadness...because it is so 'on target'...true.

Why is it so difficult for us to be content when we have enough to live very comfortably...without wanting/getting more and more and more. It seems that more is never quite enough; do we ever have a cap on that?

More than enough...with so very much to spare.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Rush, how is it that through your blog and other sources, God seems to be very consistent with something he's trying to say to me or teach me? Was just discussing this very subject this week with my wife. Another preacher talked about how the church probably doesn't discuss the idea of wealth enough and how dangerous it is to our realtionship with Him. Our possessions literally drag us down and chain us to this earth like gravity. Satan uses our ambition and the American Dream to deceive us and potentially kill us.

Jay